Page 80

“Go, my love,” he mouthed, and resumed the fight with double the strength. He couldn’t let them see her.

“Ye bastarts!” he cried, calling on the reserves of his strength.

And with the sound of hooves fading away, he sank into the bloody sea of battle rage.

Chapter 29

Kate let Thor lead the way down the path. Her eyes burning, she swallowed the tears as the woods around her blurred in flashes of dark green and brown.

Ye are a burden to me, rang in her head. Relieve me of yer burden.

And then, Gooooooo!

Her chest was on fire. Her stomach a bottomless pit. Her worst fear had come true—he’d said she was a burden. Before, he’d said he loved her. He’d said she was a treasure, making her whole world light up like fireworks.

No one had ever said they loved her before.

Not her parents. Not her sister. Not a man.

No one.

Hearing those words, it had felt as though he’d been saying them to someone else. Like he looked at her, but he actually meant another person.

As it turned out, she had been right about that all along. He didn’t love her. He only needed a clear conscience, only wanted to be kind to her. Because he was a kind man. A strong, wonderful, kind man. Bigger than life. Stronger than death. Greater than slavery.

Unbreakable.

Until now.

She’d left him to fight four people. Four! He was already wounded. What chance did he have?

In her mind’s eye, Kate saw Ian lying on the ground, blood on his face and a gaping wound in his chest. Dead.

Pain tore her apart at the image, like a bomb exploding, shredding her to pieces. A world without Ian wasn’t a world worth living in. She loved him. Even if he didn’t—even if he’d never—love her.

She loved him.

Love unraveled in her heart, a mixture of unearthly lightness and wrenching pain. There was nothing more important than keeping him alive. Not that he’d hate her if she came back. Not that she had any idea what she’d actually be able to do against warriors. Not that she might get hurt herself.

All that mattered was that Ian survive.

“Thor, stop!” she commanded.

But he continued his stride. Remembering what Ian had taught her to do when driving the cart, Kate pulled on the reins—lightly at first, then stronger. Thor slowed down, then stopped.

“Good boy,” she said and patted him on the neck. “Now, let’s go back.”

She pulled the reins all the way to the left. Thor turned his head left but didn’t walk.

“Left, Thor!” Kate cried desperately.

She had no idea how long they had ridden, but she knew they were losing precious time.

“Your master needs you, Thor,” she whispered. She kept holding the left rein, and Thor kept looking left. Then he took one tentative step.

“Yes, good boy. Keep going!”

She pressed her left leg to his side.